"There was a long nail hidden inside the doll's sleeve—she must have used it to blind the last eyeball."
The last eyeball hadn't been stained red. The
Bloodlines surged into the evil spirit's body, making it appear more realistic, as though it could leap off the door at any moment.
About thirty seconds passed before a strange sound came from behind the door—something like a ball bouncing on the ground.
"A human head?"
If he hadn't just re-nailed the wooden boards back in place, he might have thrown the door open and fought whatever was on the other side right then and there.
The sound drew closer and closer until it slammed into the door. The door panel of the stall trembled slightly.
The moment the monster behind the door made contact, all nine eyes of the evil spirit painted on the door flew wide open. A boy's scream rang out from the other side, and then the bouncing object swiftly retreated.
The sound faded into the distance, and the one-minute mark arrived as well. The evil spirit ultimately still hadn't broken free from the door panel. Because one of its eyes had been blinded, it seemed to be forever trapped within this Blood Door.
The Blood Door returned to normal, and everything looked as though nothing had ever happened.
"The monster behind the door screamed when it touched the door panel—its voice carried both pain and fear. It seems this evil spirit the Ghost Stories Society painted is truly extraordinary."
The image of the evil spirit had vanished along with the bloodlines, but the scene still lingered in Chen Ge's mind.
"This evil spirit carries the eyes of five sinners on its body, with all manner of torture implements strapped to it. It looks utterly ferocious—more like something meant to ward off evil spirits. It's starting to feel a lot like a door god."
"Ordinary households paste door gods during the New Year to ward off evil and ghosts, protect their homes, and ensure peace. Could the Ghost Stories Society have painted an evil spirit on this Blood Door for a similar purpose—to suppress evil?"
Back in the
Number Ten had reacted strongly at the time, suggesting that ownerless "doors" that no one had ever entered were extremely rare.
"They think they can control a 'door' just by painting some strange pattern on it? That's a bit unrealistic. The key to becoming a door's master should lie on the other side."
Thinking about it this way, Chen Ge strongly suspected that the evil spirit pattern on the door was actually a means of protecting it.
A door was where two worlds intersected. If you wanted to enter and explore what lay beyond, you first needed to ensure the door's safety—so that if danger arose, you could still retreat in time.
"Protecting the door from being touched by outsiders—that's probably one of the evil spirit pattern's functions. The rest I'll need to figure out gradually."
To make sure the evil spirit pattern wouldn't cause any problems for the haunted house, Chen Ge tested it first with Xu Yin and then with
"I'm still not entirely at ease. I'll come back tomorrow night at midnight to test it again."
Chen Ge's original attitude toward the door had been one of avoidance—he'd wanted nothing more than to seal it shut immediately. But ever since he'd witnessed
"When the chance comes, I want to go inside and have a look too." Chen Ge put Xu Yin back into the cassette tape and glanced over his shoulder at his own shadow. "Once Zhang Ya wakes up, I'll take a trip to the other side of the door."